Tag: television

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Baby David

I managed to get this the other night off the telly. Five were showing a “Before They Were Famous” program and it was promised during the opening we’d get to see Mr T in his now infamous Davina role in Rab C Nesbitt. Anyway, as the time came round for showing the clip, they showed this little gem beforehand!

[youtube=http://youtu.be/sSdS9-il078]

Thank God we’ve got a PVR that has a 10 minute rewind, which meant I could quickly capture it onto DVD.

Enjoy!

Update: Aug 24th

You wouldn’t believe the comments this clip is generating. No doubt all from women, all completely incensed that anyone should even REMOTELY ridicule their beloved David. It’s REALLY sad!

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Monkey Olympics

Well, not long to go now until the opening ceremony. I have LOVED the BBC’s promo video for their Olympics coverage. Made by the animator of the Gorillaz videos and with music made by the group. I love the music and was sad enough to download it onto my mobile.

Monkey Olympics promo.

[youtube=http://youtu.be/H34YLFPFYMU]

Watched Mock The Week last night. I love this show primarily for Frankie Boyle. The man is SSSSOOOO rude! Every week we tune in just to see how quickly Frankie will say something outrageous. It never takes long!

He’s got big hopes for the future…

Anyway, off to watch the opening ceremony…

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Cool days, music, hair cuts and what’s on telly.

The weather has finally settled itself down after a week of humid, sticky, but dark and damp weather. Today is sunny and cool, perfect!

 

I have finally been listening to more music. Most of it has been quite retro, as it always usually is for me. I can’t help being stuck in the 70’s/80’s/90’s. I hardly listen to any “new” music. The “newest” music on my rotation of play is Franz Ferdinand. So far it’s been revolving around Bjork and Eurythmics, with a bit of kd lang splashed in.

 

This is the Bjork song I can’t get enough of at the moment. There’s a line in it I just love…”Since we broke up, I’m using lipstick again. I suck my tongue, in remembrance of you.” How sexy is that?!

 

The Eurythmics stuff I’ve been listening to is Touch, and Touch Dance (an album of remixes of songs from the Touch album) and Revenge. Here’s my favourite song off the album (I love The Miracle of Love as well).

[youtube=http://youtu.be/KKFIAYQccKw]

I am fully in love with kd lang’s voice. The Cambridge Folk Festival was on over the weekend, and she played there. I SO would’ve loved to have gone, but the tickets were long sold-out and damn expensive anyway! The stuff on her most recent album sound as lovely as ever. She just does beautiful songs and has the voice of an angel. Her voice would make me do naughty things 🙂

 

Last artist on my rotation id Nick Lowe. Not a person I’d expect to have on my list of music at the moment. BBC Four showed a concert of his the other night and I watched it and really got into his music. I got his latest CD and have it in my playlist.

 

I’m going to cut and dye Em’s hair today. All the greys are coming out again! I should have my OWN hair cut now. I’d booked an appointment last week to get mine done, then I got man flu, thrush, then my period, so ended up cancelling the appointment. I’ll go this week though. I got myself some dye too. I’ll take a pic once my hair is cut and killed (dyed).

 

Just got through watching the 2nd series of Blackadder on DVD. There is something scarily sexy about Rowan Atkinson as Blackadder in the 2nd series. I SO love Tim McInnerny as Percy. He’s such a nonce! But you can’t help but feel sorry for him. Still got Brigadoon and Jekyll to watch.

 

The Tudors was back on Friday night. Yay! I hate to break it to the actress playing Anne Boleyn, but she doesn’t have much time left! Still, she’s got to have Elizabeth yet so I’m sure she’s in a few episodes to come.

 

The only other show that I’m into at the moment is Bonekickers. They’re making archaeology exciting! I’m sure it is for those directly involved in it. And of course, with it being fictional, there’s a bit of artist licence, so they are making discoveries that probably would not actually happen in real life.

 

I have to show up Em. For about the last 12 months or so, there has been an ad campaign for this “pure, filtered” milk called Cravendale. They have the most SURREAL ad campaign involving a Tour de France cyclist, a pirate and a cow?! Yes, I know! Anyway, the ads are stop-motion animation and they are growing on me. I couldn’t see why Em would get so much pleasure when these ads came on air, but over the last few months I’ve begun to see the appeal.

 

The premise of the ad (in case it escapes you) is that the cyclist, the pirate, and the cow wake up and want to have their morning glass of milk. The cow goes to the fridge to pour out 3 glasses of milk, but guess what? There’s only enough for one! NNNNNNOOOOOOO! So, they decide to have a game of musical statutes to determine who gets the glass of milk. The cyclist cheats by putting a paper cut-out of himself there, so in the meantime he can drink the glass of milk. Naughty cyclist! I love the pirates reaction when he realises he’s been robbed!

 

Here’s the other, which makes a little more sense once you’ve seen the first one.

The thing I love most is the cow. Why would a COW be craving milk THIS MUCH?! This second clip is much like how our trip to Hitchin was the other day! Except we didn’t end up in a milk truck, just a ditch!

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I’m Hot, Casanova.

The weather died down yesterday, only for it to be hot again today! And it’ll be even HOTTER tomorrow. I’m glad the weather is sunny, but it SERIOUSLY does not need to be this hot with it. It was sunny yesterday, but there was a lovely north wind blowing keeping the temp. down.

I watched Casanova yesterday. You think (for me anyway, only vaguely knowing the reputation of Giacomo Casanova) that there isn’t going to be anything at all redeeming about him. That by the end you’ll just think of him as a half-wit ladies man. But not so at all. I never knew of the story of Henriette. I’m sure given “artistic licence” given more relevance by writer of the script Russell T Davies. Casanova was not just a mere “ladies man”. He seems to have truly loved women.

Peter O’ Toole plays an older Casanova and even at the age he’s at in this point in his life (around 73 years old), he still manages to seduce a young woman (he doesn’t go on to “have his way” with her, and there is no actual intercourse) and you are totally “spun-in” with her. You find yourself, watching, thinking “Yes, you are old, but you can have me too!!!” If he was anything like he was portrayed in the series, I can see why he is held as such a Lothario. But with such overwhelming love for women, with no malice ever meant, no harm ever wanting to be done. Even though he lived over 200 years ago, I fell in love with him too.

The experience was made all the lovelier for watching David Tennant as the younger Casanova, as well as Mr O’ Toole being the older Casanova. When I was in Australia last year, they showed Goodbye, Mr Chips on the TV on a Saturday afternoon. I watched it and just fell in love with it. It was a musical version with Petula Clark and Peter O’ Toole as Chips. Oh, it was so lovely, and O’ Toole played such a lovely, gentle version of Chips. Despite the man being in his 70’s, I fell in love with him as Chips. Still, he was 37 at the time of making Chips, so that’s OK!

Can you tell I loved Casanova? 🙂

And of course, with the repeats being on BBC3, I watched ANOTHER Doctor Who last night. Probably my equal favourite of the series with the one being aired tonight (Turn Left). I was just mesmerised by Mr T’s performance in this and this was pre-hots-for! It was after this went to air, I had my dream of him…

Well, I’ll let you know what’s in stall for DVD watching when the new batch arrives.

I’m looking forward to a new series of The Tudors starting up too this Friday. Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, more absolute male hotness to be had. I’m sure Henry VIII was never THAT sexy!!!

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Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn (The Tudors)

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Man Flu, Black Books and Casanova.

I’m already starting to get over my “man flu”, thank goodness! I know it’s hard to believe, but the weather has actually been hot of late and having man flu in the middle of a heat-wave is NOT fun! If you don’t believe me, I snapped this from the TV last night. This is today’s forecast!

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YES! That is a three and a zero, together, hovering over London!!!

I can hear titties outside!!! Yay!!! Titties are back!!!! Can you tell I love tits?

Anyway, I am already feeling better with my man flu, but I now have yet ANOTHER fungal infection and my boobs are red-raw, which isn’t fun in this weather either. I wouldn’t care if I only ever got to use it for 2 days a year, I SSSSSSOOOOOOO want air-con!

Just finished watching the 2nd series of Black Books last night and the 3rd is coming in the post today with the Casanova disc. Even MORE David Tennant to OD on! There was a special Doctor Who Prom on at the Albert Hall yesterday. It was broadcast on the radio with a little specially made clip played during the interval. Mr T wasn’t there himself, as he’s being Hamlet at RSC Stratford at the moment, but he was in the little specially commissioned clip. Radio listeners didn’t miss out as it was available on the official Doctor Who web site as well.


Lovely and interactive, must’ve been great fun for the kids there, believing The Doctor was talking to them all, too cute!!

All of series four is being repeated on BBC3 at the moment. Silence In The Library was on last night…that’s SSOO scary the way that ends with “Donna Noble has left the library. Donna Noble has been saved” repeated ad nauseam while a clan of Vashta Nerada (the dust in sunbeams – hidden in shadows) that have invaded a human body manoeuvre it chasing The Doctor and a group of archaeologists down the narrow halls of the library.

[youtube=http://youtu.be/9eg6PdFdAFg]


These episodes to come are my faves, the second part of this (Forest Of The Dead), Midnight and Turn Left, all brilliant.

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I Love Music.

And I just don’t listen to it enough.

When I was growing up, through my teens and into my late 20’s, I’d listen to at least 2 hours of music a DAY!

Now all my music I hear in a day is probably about 20 minutes worth of incidental music I hear whilst watching TV. I no doubt hear MORE than that, but it’s background stuff on TV shows and the like. Not music on the radio or from iTunes/CD’s/whatever.

On Thursday night there was SO little on TV, I decided to put the radio on and listen to Radio 2. Radcliffe/Maconie was just about to start – the program I was hoping to catch. Stuart Maconie was on his own this week while Mark Radcliffe was filling in for Steve Wright (in the afternoon). It was like stepping back in time…

Here’s a short back story. Mid March 2008, Em and I are on a anniversary break. We’d spent the afternoon in Birmingham waiting for the time to come around for us to go and watch U2-3D at the Imax theatre in Brum. We wasted time by sitting in the car listening to…Mark Radcliffe and Liza Tarbuck filling in for Steve Wright while he was on hols! That night as we were driving home (having just seen U2-3D on Imax), Stuart Maconie was hosting the show on his own.

I’d promised myself a few days ago that I MUST start listening to Radcliffe/Maconie because that night coming back from Brum, Stuart was playing some great stuff. So, lo and behold when I listen in for the first time since that night, Maconie’s on his own ‘cos Radcliffe’s filling in for Wrighty! It was like picking up where I’d left off!!

I only got to listen in to the first hour of the show and it was most enjoyable. And now because the BBC are so damn high-tech and stuff, if I DO miss a show, I can listen to it the next day via the BBC web site. Oh, technology!!

Tonight I listened to a program on Radio 2 that was repeated from 2004 about the history of Chillout music. I love Dance/Chillout/Ambient stuff. Love Chemical Brothers, Royksopp, Faithless, Daft Punk, Moby, Fatboy Slim, Paul Oakenfold, Massive Attack, Moloko, Goldfrapp, and then into similar genre stuff like Portishead and Everything But The Girl. It was a good prog and it made me want to get back into listening to dance. There’s an Oz group I’ve just heard about called The Presets, as well as another group called Midnight Juggernauts (Stuart Maconie played MJ’s last night), they both sound fab. I thought The Avalanches were going to be the only Oz dance group ever to make it out of Terra Australis.

After that, it was time to watch a DVD. I watched Sweeney Todd. Much better than I anticipated. I know, if I felt like that, why did I want to see it? Curiosity mainly, to see how Johnny Depp would play it. I thought he was good. I know the reaction was mixed. A lot of people saying he just parodied David Bowie’s singing voice – is that bad? I thought he delivered good vocally. It was enough of his own NOT to totally sound like DB. And let’s face it, if we’re talking parodies, DB himself was only parodying Anthony Newley anyway in his early days, or Scott Walker. I was worried I was going to tire of the musicality of it, but I didn’t. It had aspects of being an old-style film musical, which surprised me. It wasn’t “top notch”, but it was better than I was lead to believe it would be, or that I thought it would be. I could endure it again at some point. It’s something I could watch again, so that’s good enough for me. The one thing that was making me giggle through it though was Helena Bonham-Carter’s character and the young kid regularly referring to Depp’s character as “Mr. T”!

DVD’s to come are…the first series of Black Books (re: Dylan Moran discussion a few posts back) and Threads – 80’s “crap yourself” drama about potential nuclear annihilation. Nothing like a bit of 80’s nuclear war drama to cheer you up! Credit crunch?! Peh!!!

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Hedgehogs and Hairspray.

Watching DVD’s again. I’ve finished watching my set of Blackpool discs. It was a really good series. I think you need to have something of the Brit about you, or be Anglophilic to appreciate some of it. I can understand why Viva Laughlin (a US re-production of it made by/for CBS) failed. I found something outrageously sexy about David Morrissey’s voice in it. I loved the kitschy musical segues.

More discs arrived by post yesterday. After spending the morning doing the whole bankruptcy petition thing at the local county court, I needed some light relief. One disc to arrive was Hairspray. I’d been wanting to see it for ages. Just the mere notion of John Travolta in drag was funny enough! Oh, it was SO good. I just freaking LOVE musicals! I’m a gay man trapped in a heterosexual woman’s body!! I’d love to see it in the West End now. I’d love to see Michael Ball as Edna. Musicals are even more special when you see them in the theatre. I haven’t been to the West End for a musical for years now. Last one I saw was Cats, just before it ended its run. Maybe, just maybe for my birthday or something. Anyway, it was just the “pick me up” I needed. I LOVE the music of the show.

After watching that, I just had the TV on Big Brother. Chris was looking out the loungeroom window with something in her sight, seemingly. I suggested to Em that she might have spotted a hedgehog, so Em went outside to investigate with a torch. And lo and behold, there was a hoggy outside! He was out in the garden, rummaging around. Em went back inside to get some dog food for him, but then he slipped away under the bushes. It was lovely being able to go out into the garden to see him though, even if it was just for a fleeting glimpse. Em says there are LOADS of slugs and snails around at the moment and she keeps seeing hedgehog droppings (amazingly, very slug-like shaped poo – who’d have thought?).

That’s it for now, I’m off for another DT fix.

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DVD’s

After working on my list of U2 songs for yesterday’s post, I watched some DVD’s. It’s SSSSOOOOO the non-rating season in the UK. Here’s a sample of the “delights” on TV last night.

As of 6pm:

BBC1:
News 6.10-6.30
My Family 6.30-7.00
(a modern day Brit family comedy – ie: not THAT funny) – OK if you really ARE stretched for something to watch)
Last Choir Standing 7.00-8.00
(yet ANOTHER reality TV talent show – this one obviously about finding “the” choir group of the UK – I just can’t generate any interest in it)
The National Lottery: This Time Tomorrow 8.00-8.50
(yes, our lottery programme goes for that long! They usually have some quiz show linked into it. This one is seemingly called “This Time Tomorrow” where the quiz winner gets flown off to an exotic location as their prize)
Casualty 8.50-9.40
(hospital-based drama series)
News 9.40-10.00

BBC2
The Weakest Link 6.15-7.00
Dad’s Army 7.00-7.30
Carry On Camping 7.30-9.00
(Lord have mercy! Don’t get me wrong, sometimes I DO love an old “Carry On” film, but not prime time on a Saturday night!)
Cor, Blimey! 9.00-10.45
(TV drama about the Carry On films and stars of the movies)

ITV1
Twins 5.35-7.30
(the movie with Arnie and Danny De Vito)
New You’ve Been Framed 7.30-8.00
(one of those home video compilation shows – give me strength)
Who Dares Sings 8.00-9.00
(another reality TV show – basically karaoke on TV)
Foyle’s War 9.00-11.00
(drama series about some war bloke or something. Dunno. Never watched, never will – even despite David Tennant being in an episode once)

Channel 4
Gok’s Fashion Fix (repeat from Thursday night) 6.00-7.00
(hosted by fashionista Gok Wan, telling people who care what’s hot in fashion and trying to help members of the public improve their fashion sense)
Channel 4 News 7.00-7.30
Day Of The Kamikaze 7.30-9.00
(a documentary about Japanese Kamikaze fighter pilots of WWII)
Big Brother 9.00-10.00
(the day’s “highlights” from the reality TV show’s house)

Five
Superstars 6.05-7.00
(has-been athletes competing against each other for reasons beyond my comprehension)
Five News 7.00-7.15
Cricket on Five 7.15-8.00
(the day’s highlights of the current test between England and South Africa)
NCIS 8.00-9.00
CSI:NY 9.00-10.00
(sorry, I’m not interested in CSI:Anywhere – well, maybe I’d watch CSI:Luton! – NOT)

The only cool thing to be had on was highlights from T In The Park (Scotland’s big music festival – think Glastonbury but in Scotland) on BBC Three. I just recorded what I wanted to see.

So, hence DVD night.

I watched a film called Deja Vu with Denzel Washington. Oh My God! That film WAY surpassed what I was expecting of it. I just sort of remembered it being talked about on film reviews and stuff, but couldn’t really remember much about it, but added it to my rental list anyway. Oh man it was good! A lot more Sci-fi based than I was expecting too. The ending was a tad far-fetched (I suppose it’s just that Hollywood need for a happy ending), but the film had me glued.

After watching that, it was time for a bit of a DT fix, so I started watching the TV series Blackpool. I watched the first two episodes. I remember wanting to watch it when it was on the TV, but just never got the chance. I think I was worried by the musical slant on it that it might be too kitschy. It IS kitschy in those scenes, but fun. And Mr T is being quite sexy in this show. I love this running theme they have through it that his character – a detective called Peter Carlisle – he is completely addicted to sugary foods. So far – just in the first two episodes we’ve seen him eat chips, ice cream, candy floss, cake, and biscuits. In nearly every scene he’s in he’s eating something. Like a bloke would stay that skinny eating all that junk food? The ice cream scene is particularly yummy. DT eating ice cream from a cone, licking the ice cream off – I can’t tell you how much I was wishing to be the ice cream!!!

I think had I got to watch it on the TV I might not have stuck with it. It’s a bit of a slow-burner. The plot doesn’t really develop until the second episode. But now I’m really dying to watch the rest of it. The lead guy in it, David Morrissey is going to be in this year’s Doctor Who Christmas special. And there are rumours he might end up being the Doctor’s new assistant. Here’s my fave scene so far, with Messers Tennant and Morrissey being ever so slightly homo-erotic.

Not the best clip, but the others up were out of sync.

I’ve got Run, Fat Boy, Run to watch later on. I’m scarily now starting to get a thing for Dylan Moran! I’m on a real geeky-sexy trip at the moment! Next thing you know, I’ll be watching the whole series of Black Books (which I should anyway because by all accounts it’s wonderfully funny). He’s touring around the country at the moment. I’d love to see him again. We saw him at the Cambridge Corn Exchange a few years back and he did this thing about Irish men, and their hair. I was in stitches. Here’s a clip of it from another performance in Dublin (from the official DVD release).

Dylan Moran on Smurfs.

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Gruesome Scene – and Doctor Who spoilers (for those outside the UK).

This is what I saw in the bathroom last night.

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The little blob underneath the spider had just hours before been a moth. Life is cruel…

And so…on to the Doctor Who finale’.

It turned out exactly the way I didn’t want it to turn out really. Here’s someone’s YouTube splice of the end of the penultimate episode picking it up on the final episode.

Oh man, it was David Tennant all along!! Still, at least a little further into the program, we get this…

It’s a little bit in (and it’s a long clip), but we get…

Two Doctors! Scrum-didley-uptious!!!

I was SSSOOO pee’d off towards the end though, when Rose gets to go off with the part-human Doctor! Sssssoooo not fair!!!

As for the program itself. It seemed a little too busy. Russell T Davies seemed to be trying to tie up too many loose ends. I really was disappointed plot-wise that he went for this “cop out” regeneration. Having us all on tenterhooks all week wondering if all the filming people had seen of the Christmas special with David Tennant was just a huge smoke-screen and he actually WAS leaving.

I am a little confused about the whole Bad Wolf Bay beach scene where Rose goes off and lives “happily ever after” with the half-human Doctor. And the fact that she needs to go back to living in a parallel universe, I just don’t get that. Having all the characters from other spin-offs and everything as well made it busy.

I dunno. I kind of wanted to dislike it, but I didn’t. I felt shafted over the regeneration, but then was pleased to have two Doctors (three really if you count Donna in as being part-timelord). I really didn’t understand the point of Mickey and Jackie being there. Or even Sarah-Jane for that matter. There was a role for Rose to play in that she came to warn the Doctor of the Daleks plans to destroy all the planets they’d captured, and a role for Martha in trying to save the Earth by blowing it to smithereens (?!), and Jack as well, because the Daleks got Torchwood involved. But other than that, there was just too much scope given to needless characters. I know it was RTD’s swan-song as he gives up the helm of head writer and executive producer, but perhaps someone else would’ve written a better end-of-series script. He’d written such a good script for the 11th episode, but these final two seemed rushed.

Anyway, that’s about it for now. Just had to get that Who stuff off my chest.

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No DT’s over DT.

I think I’ve already come out of the worst of it. The DT’s for DT have subsided. I still think the man is WELL hot, but just the total irrationally obsessive behaviour has subsided a lot.

Still totally hooked into the theories of how this series of Doctor Who is going to end though. There are so many theories going around. Like (regarding the regeneration) the Doctor will split in two (two Tennant Doctors), a second Doctor played by either Christopher Eccelston (back to 9th Doc) or David Morrissey will happen. Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) is a Time Lord…I could go on and on. It’s a LONG wait til Saturday. Some people are convinced that David Tennant continues to play the Doctor as they’ve seen filming in Cardiff in which he’s involved in. But Em made a very valid point that if you (the BBC production crew) didn’t want leaks, you’d still have DT on set, even if he was no longer involved in the process?

Anyway. there are more pressing things to get on with…like actually becoming bankrupt.

Today is the day, says Em. The procrastinating is over. It’s bankruptcy time!

We’ve got an online grocery shop arriving soon.

And yesterday we actually went out – I mean outside – in the sun! We went into town to pay some bills, get some things, etc. I had to pay our broadband and TV license. I nearly had a heart attack! I had £25 to pay on the broadband and £11.80 to pay on the TV license. I paid the broadband first then handed the assistant the TV license card and said “And can I pay £11.80 on this please”, she said “80 or 18” I said “80” (I thought she was confirming the final figure). Anyway, she swipes the card, puts in the figure then says “That’ll be £118” (which isn’t even 80 and 25 quid together anyway, WTF?). I just stood there dumbfounded. Then she said to be “What did you want to pay on it again, 80 or 18?” I said “£11.80” and she was like “Oh!” and I was thinking “Yeah, give me a friggin heart attack, woman!” Worst of all was when she finally got the figure right and it was time to pay, she had to use a calculator to add 25 and 11.80 together!!!! Lord have mercy!

You have NEVER seen queues as long as we get at the town’s post office. You lose the will to live just LOOKING at it sometimes! Poor Em had to line up so we could put money on our pre-paid credit card and get proof of posting on some DVD’s. It took her 20 minutes to get served.

We bought a pair of shoes each. We have matching shoes! How autistic are we going to look going out together in matching shoes? There were some cheap T’s too, so Em got two of them. We went wild spending a whole £14 on ourselves!

Our mall is SO damn overcrowded. I get agoraphobia just walking around it, it’s so bloody full of people. And there’s never really a time of day when it ISN’T swarming with people.

But, it was nice to get out and actually mingle for a while.

Today is going to be WELL hot. TWENTY SEVEN degrees man!! Woah, has summer returned? And it’s Wimbledom time as well. Unprecedented!

Anyway, I’m off.